82 Year-Old Man Up the Mast

[Ram]

This old guy banged into my Yacht in Tunisia as he tied up along side me- he's 82 years old and just blew out his sail-as he came in during a storm- and before he went up the mast I was saying to my Girl friend -guys like this should not be sailing out there own at that age-

anyway up the mast he went and wile he was up there- Im watching him I thought maybe I spoke too soon- perhaps hes ok at this age sailing around- maybe theres hope for me !--then I noticed the halyard he was using it was wore out and spliced to a 1/4''line - looked like it was ready to break any moment-

The old guy never steped foot on a boat until he was 72 years old- luck has been with him---so far

[James S]

So far................

[rtbates]

As my ex fighter pilot father always said ," I'd rather be lucky than good"..

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by rtbates

As my ex fighter pilot father always said ," I'd rather be lucky than good"..

Your Dad was Yankee great pitcher Vernon “Lefty” ("Goofy") Gomez?

[quidam]

Condition is more important than age. Ike Hastings is a good example. He is plying the rivers, by himself, on his new 100' sternwheeler.When I visited him this summer he was working away on her, and still sharp as a tack. I beleive he is 83 now.

http://cgee.hamline.edu/rivers/Resources/Voices/ike.htm

[thinwater]

at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia, when he had just turned 82. He wasn't climbing the hardest thing there, or the hardest thing he had ever climbed, but he was still climbing at a fair level... which is to say climbing a mast would have been as nothing, hoisted up by someone else grinding the winch.

We should all hope to stay so focused as these guys on the importance of getting out there and not giving up. I am amazed at the number of 40-year olds who can't see themselves as kids anymore and use that as an excuse not to play.

Fritz was good... and lucky, from the stories I've heard.

Please glance at the post below on Fritz. Amazing guy, pivotal in bringing hard mountaineering to the US.

Fritz Wiessner

[Ram]

What A Guy!!!!!!!!!! worth the read!

[roverhi]

I don't know if your sailor is the same one but there is a guy in the med, now?, who should be hanging it up. He's run aground a number of times, been confused about his location, made serious navigation errors requiring Coast Guard rescue, etc. He's going to kill himself if he keeps it up, hopefully he won't take anyone else with him.

It's like the old one who drives at 10mph because that's all he can handle. They are a danger to themselves if ANYTHING requiring quick action happens and a danger to others. Remember the old guy that hit the gas instead of the brake and killed around 5 people in CA a couple of years ago.

More power to those of advancing years who get out their do it. Just hope they have the wisdom to realize that they have limitations.

Aloha
Peter O.

[Jim Cate]

[quote=roverhi;254847]. He's run aground a number of times, been confused about his location, made serious navigation errors requiring Coast Guard rescue, etc. He's going to kill himself if he keeps it up, hopefully he won't take anyone else with him."

As a card-carrying member of the Geriatric Sailing Society, I'd like to point out that the same description applies to untold numbers of younger sailors -- ones that have been flamed in these very columns. Incompetence is a hazard no matter what the age of the practitioner, and I hate to see stereotyping of us old farts.

Cheers,

Jimand Ann s/v Insatiable II

[quidam]

[quote=roverhi;254847]. He's run aground a number of times, been confused about his location, made serious navigation errors requiring Coast Guard rescue, etc. He's going to kill himself if he keeps it up, hopefully he won't take anyone else with him."

Sounds like most of the cruisers I know, including me, (except for the rescue part).

This topic makes me want to make a t-shirt or bumper sticker with an old guy at the helm of a tattered old boat with a caption underneath saying something like, " They can have my boat when they pry my cold, dead, arthritic hand from the tiller"

[DeepFrz]

It's like the old one who drives at 10mph because that's all he can handle. They are a danger to themselves if ANYTHING requiring quick action happens and a danger to others.

And yet I keep getting the message from our police departments and government agencies that "speed kills".

I don't know if I have ever heard of one serious accident that was caused by someone going too slow. I have heard of many caused by people going to fast. I have a good friend in the hospital right now, she has been in an induced coma for almost a week, hit by a speeding driver running a red light.

[starfish62]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

And yet I keep getting the message from our police departments and government agencies that "speed kills".

I don't know if I have ever heard of one serious accident that was caused by someone going too slow.

Sorry to hear about your friend, but I assure you that people driving too slow are a monstrous hazard down here in south Florida. They become a traffic hazard, and I've seen innumerable wrecks from people taking evasive action and being sideswiped by oncoming traffic. And by the way, driving too slow is also a ticketable offense.

As to the old guy sailing, more power to him as long as he doesn't harm anyone else.